1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wireless network technology, more particularly to a channel utilizing method and system for wireless networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compared to conventional wired networks, a wireless network is easier and quicker to establish. IEEE 802.11 is a communications protocol standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN).
In a basic service set (BSS) of a fundamental infrastructure of an IEEE 802.11 wireless network, a station (STA) has to go through an access point (AP) to access the Internet. The basic service set (BSS) of each fundamental infrastructure only needs a single channel for all stations to communicate with the access point.
However, in an IEEE 802.11s mesh network, there are two types of traffic loads, namely a BSS traffic load and a mesh transfer traffic load. It is noted that carrier sensing in the BSS traffic load may affect processing of the mesh transfer traffic load. While the use of multiple channels is an instinctive solution to this problem, multiple transceivers are required. In view of cost and power consumption considerations, it is desirable to use fewer transceivers (i.e., number of transceivers<number of channels) during implementation. Under this situation, transceivers have to be switched among the channels, which can result in packet loss and connection interruptions.
Hence, it is highly desired to lower the probability of packet loss and connection interruptions and reduce waste of channel time while using as few transceivers as possible.